Posted on 07/13/2009 4:59:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Despite the dreams of mush heads, alternative energy sources remain economically marginal, meaning they cost a lot. The latest experiment in selling "green energy" is running into consumer price resistance in ultra-liberal Austin, TX. Marty Toohey of the Austin American-Statesman reports:
"For the past decade, Austin's ambition to become the world's clean-energy capital has been best exemplified by one effort: GreenChoice, a program that sells electricity generated entirely from renewable sources such as wind."
Now the nationally renowned program is struggling to find buyers - the latest allotment is 99 percent unsold after seven months on the market - and Austin Energy is looking for ways to bring down the rising costs.
In a normal market, a product that finds few buyers is a disaster for the producer. But, as is the case with so many alternative energy projects, market failure just means other people (in this case, the rate payers of the electrical utility) are on the hook to pay for the economic disaster.
" Duncan [Roger Duncan, the head of Austin Energy and the chief architect of GreenChoice] said part of the solution might just be adding new wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects into the bills of all Austin Energy customers, which could increase rates for everyone. He said there are also numerous other policies being considered but declined to discuss them, saying only that they will be proposed publicly in the near future."
To co-opt an old greenie catch-phrase, reality bats last. Force-feeding alternative energy sources leads to uneconomical decisions, and ends up subsidizing the moral vanity of guilt-ridden greenies. Sadly the costs of this folly will be borne by the general public.
I used to work for BFI (waste company) in Austin years ago. We spent a fortune building a recycling center to service the Austin market.
It ends up that no one in Austin wanted to pay the higher fees associated with recycling. Town is full of the equivalent of eco RINO’s. They like talking the game, but it stops once it reachs their wallets.
These green marketing ploys are completely bogus! Energy generated from a wind farm has already been generated and sold to a utility. Paying a premium for it after-the-fact does not put another wind mill in the ground, it is just putting money in the pockets of Enviro-cheats so green DUmmies can "feeeel" good.
I’m no eco-liberal, but I have a contract for electrcity from renewable sources. It costs me another 0 5 cents per KWh, or about $5.00 per month.
I do it to promote development of alternate sources, then burn more gas in my car. :-). But seriously, the eco-freaks in Austin are predictably too cheap to put their money where their mouth is.
It’s important to remember that there is “leftist environmentalism” and “conservative environmentalism”, as philosophies.
Socialism only has a purpose in conditions of rationing, shortage, deprivation, high prices, and lowered expectations. So their entire agenda is reliant on this as an *axiom* for the future. The best example is people trying to live on the Moon, where literally nothing is in abundance. But on Earth, socialism never works, because there is always *something* in abundance. So leftism is dependent on taking things away from people, raising prices, reducing production, etc.
Conservatism is inherently optimistic, in that it strives to give more to more people, at lower prices, and higher quality. It envisions a future where abundance is so great that people can choose whatever life they desire, and become as wealthy and prosperous as they are willing to work to achieve.
For this reason, conservatism always looks to science and technology to provide better ways of doing things at lower prices and higher quality. And conservatism regularly finds solutions to problems in this way, that thwart the goals of leftist socialists, and gives more to more people.
For example, right now Obama is jacking up energy prices artificially, to force Americans to have less. But conservatives could easily counter this if someone starts mass producing huge amounts of thin sheet Aerogel insulation. Aerogel is a superb insulator, and even a few millimeters of it works far better than feet of fiberglass. Recently, someone discovered how to make it inexpensively, in thin, flexible sheets.
If we used it as insulation in our homes, in summer, an entire house could be made cold with a single window air conditioner, and heated hot in the dead of winter with a few light bulbs, even if it was bitterly cold outside.
A refrigerator/freezer insulated with aerogel would use just a fraction of the electricity it does today. And the same with an oven—once it was up to heat, it would stay that temperature for many minutes.
Just today I heard my power company was raising its rates by 8.8% to pay for “Cap and Trade”. But this would be meaningless if I could slash my electricity bill by 50%, and save a ton of money, while living even better. Abundance, prosperity and lower prices are the way to go.
And I don’t give a hoot if that means that less of my money goes to Washington, D.C. to pay for the Democrats bitter socialism.
We live in Dallas and I was talking with our local eco expert at a party, I guess Dallas does a better job of being green than Austin....surprised me.....
When I signed up with Reliant, they asked if I wanted to pay 20% more and have 100% of my energy come from clean energy sources. I asked if I could pay 20% less and have 100% of my electricity come from dirty energy sources. The lady was confused.
What benefit do you get for the extra money?
Aerogel.... is it on the market yet?
Well maybe they have trained those electrons to only go to outlets designated at a green outlet, neat trick!
You have that right! Talk is cheap and that is exactly what the ECO nuts are, phonies!
They want YOU to live like the homeless NOT THEM!
They want to keep their luxuries. They want you to do without them.
All you have to do is look at HOLLYWEIRD!
roflol!
I absolutely hate the look of those stupid wind things scattered all over the country (except in the liberals backyards)!
The correct term is BOBO. As in Bourgeois Bohemian. Which is from David Brooks' book, BOBOs in Paradise.
And in Texas, the price of electricity is tied to the price of natural gas, even if the electricity is generated by coal or wind.
Austin deserves exactly what it elects. Bend over, Austin - - here comes your liberals.
Aerogel was invented in 1931, and it is by far one of the strangest materials you ever might see. Unfortunately, until just a few years ago, it was prohibitively expensive and brittle. However, a process has finally been invented that can mass produce it in thin, flexible sheets at much lower cost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel
There is just crazy high demand for it right now, and not enough manufacturers, and certainly none that can produce the huge quantities needed. It has been tried in garments and boots, but unless you are in the Arctic or Antarctic, they are too warm to wear.
But with demand like this, I would be surprised if large scale production doesn’t start soon.
Cancel your contract for “green/renewable” energy. The energy has already been generated and purchased by a utility company. You paying a few dollars extra is just putting money in the utility company’s (or their bogus “green” marketer’s) pocket.
I wouldn’t mind ‘living off the grid’, but I have no illusions that it will actually save us any money. I just think it would be nice NOT to have to depend on utilities which could be vulnerable to natural catastrophe, or terrorism, in order to have lights, heat, cooling or water.
Interesting, thanks.
No, we have a choice of electricity providers. A portion of my bill goes to the local utility for the transport grid, but my payment goes to a real renwable energy generator.
That would be a very rare case. 99.9% of renewable energy generators (i.e. wind farms) sell their energy to a 3rd party utility, and the utility then blends it into consumer rates (their "rate base") or they eat the cost just to be "green."
I have never heard of an operating wind farm financed and built on the premise of selling energy directly to consumers (or not, if nobody wants it).
Here in the NE, a firm called Community Energy markets "green energy" to consumers that has already been purchased and paid for (from the wind farms) by Exelon. This is simply a marketing ploy that puts money in Community Energy and Exelon's pockets.
I didn't mean that it was a direct payment: I meant that the provider only buys and distributes wind (and if you prefer, water) -generated electricity:
The company has operations all over the US, but in Texas it's just one of many providers that power the grid. Part of my payment goes to the local utility for distribution, but otherwise I'm free to choose from several providers, and contract for varying lengths or just pay month-to-month with no commitment.
It's fair to say that some or most of the "electrons" that I actually "consume" was generated by a fossil-fueled generator. But, a growing percentage of the load in Texas is being borne by wind generators.
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